Thai police arrest UAE man with bear, panthers in case

Yahoo News 13 May 11;

BANGKOK (AFP) – A man whose luggage contained a baby bear, a pair of panthers, two leopards and some monkeys was arrested as he tried to smuggle the live animals out of Thailand, police said Friday.

Noor Mahmoodr, a 36-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates, was detained soon after midnight by undercover officers at a Bangkok airport with the animals -- all aged under two months -- in his cases.

The man, who was trying to get the creatures onto a first-class flight to Dubai from Suvarnabhumi airport, was charged with smuggling endangered species out of Thailand, Colonel Kiattipong Khawsamang of the Nature Crime Police told AFP.

He said one of the bags had been abandoned in an airport lounge because the animals were being too noisy.

"This is a very unusual case and a very large one so we really applaud the Thai police for going after them as strongly as they did," said Roy Schlieben of wildlife protection group FREELAND, whose staff were present at the arrest.

Several people were thought to be involved and police investigations are under way into a wider network of traffickers, Schlieben said. The animals were taken into the care of local veterinarians.

"There's a pretty strong likelihood that some of them wouldn't have survived the flight in the condition they were in," he told AFP.

"The fact they were transported alive would indicate the person at the other end wanted to keep them in their residence or some sort of zoo, or maybe even breed them," he said.

If convicted, Mahmoodr could face up to four years in jail and a 40,000 baht ($1,300) fine, Kiattipong said.

Live leopards and other animals found in luggage
TRAFFIC 13 May 11;

Bangkok, Thailand, 13th May 2011—Passport, tickets, leopard cubs? That’s exactly what a United Arab Emirates man was found carrying when police arrested him at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in the early hours of this morning.

Seven infant animals—four Leopard cubs, a Bear cub, a baby gibbon and a marmoset—were found alive and packed in the 36-year-old suspect’s bags.

And it wasn’t bulky luggage or suspicious behaviour that foiled the trafficker’s audacious attempt. What gave him away was the muffled cry of one of the Leopard cubs stuffed in his bag.

Officers from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crimes Suppression Division of the Thai Police had received a tip off that a passenger bound for Dubai would be attempting to smuggle live animals out of the country.

At about 1 am this morning officers from the division ordered all passengers who were minutes away from boarding a flight for Dubai, to be checked, in the hopes of identifying the individual who was carrying the animals.

It was during that process, that a police officer heard the Leopard’s cry and zoomed in on the suspect. The animals were found in his hand luggage.

The animals are recovering at a National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department rescue centre while the suspect is expected to be charged with smuggling endangered species out of Thailand, its Deputy Director General Dr Theerapat Prayunsitthi told a press conference.

If convicted, the suspect could face up to four years in jail and a THB40,000 (USD1,300) fine.

This is not the first attempt by smugglers to traffic infant wild animals out of Thailand: this February, and Indonesian man was found to be carrying three suitcases full of animals, while in August last year, authorities found a drugged tiger cub hidden in the luggage of a Thai woman who was attempting to smuggle it to Iran.

The case put the illegal capture and trafficking of young wild animals for the pet trade in the limelight and the problem has since become the focus of a TRAFFIC Southeast Asia – Body Shop campaign in Malaysia.